A bid for greater community cohesion

The more you look at this Global Peace and Unity stomach-turner, the more creepy it gets. Check out the supporters. Who are they? Islamist groups and cops. Period.

No really. The British Muslim Forum, the Islamic Forum of Europe, the Muslim Association of Britain, The Muslim Council of Britain, The Muslim Council of Scotland, The Muslim Council of Wales, UK Islamic Mission, and City of London police and Metropolitan police. That’s it.

Here’s some pleasant and thoughtful chat from the blurb under the UK Islamic Mission.

the UKIM is not only an organization trying to serve the Muslim community, but it is also an ideological movement, It aims to mould the entire human life according to Allah’s revealed Guidance, following the life example of His last Messenger, Mohammed (peace and blessings of Allah he upon him).

The efforts of the UK Islamic Mission (UKIM) are motivated by deep insights gained from the Glorious Quran and the Sunnah of our beloved Prophet, Muhammad (May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and are built on the hard lessons learnt from Muslim history.

5 18:20:00 19:50:00 The future of Islam in the United States Lessons for the British Muslims. Dr Jamal Badawi

Yet this shindig isn’t billed as an Islamic Peace and Unity Event, and in fact it refers to itself as a “multifaith gathering.” Chairman Mohamed Ali spells this out:

The GPU offers a crucial platform for interfaith dialogue and exchange of ideas towards fostering mutual understanding between people from every faith and background in a bid for greater community cohesion.

Does it? Is a jamboree that offers seminars in how to do things the Islamic way, and no other kind, the way to foster fostering mutual understanding between people from every faith and background in a bid for greater community cohesion? Does this Event make you want to cohere to the people throwing it?

The idea isn’t that everybody attending will be carrying concealed weapons, it’s that the Islamist project is veiled by meaningless verbiage about peace and unity and above all multifaith. The Islamist project itself is entirely coercive.

Ophelia: By dodgy, I was referring to the usage of “trojan horse” in this instance. Though I do understand the context in this instance, my concern is that it -unintentionally – echoes something that Pamela Geller or someone else on the far right might say. I must stress that I am *not* connectiing you to them, by insinuation or otherwise, in this regard. It’s just a matter of vocabulary, is all.

IMHO “Trojan horse” is a fairly ideologically neutral term to describe sneaking in a destructive element under the guise of something benign. It is has been used to define a type of computer malware, for instance, and is not to my knowledge associated strongly with the far right or any other political or religious group.

I guess I sort of know what you mean, Adnan, but I’m reluctant to let worries like that dilute my vocabulary unless the connection is more unmistakable than this one is. I’m with Chris – I don’t think reactionaries have a lock on the term. And the degree of disguise here just is striking.

Adnan – there is something devious about the Global Peace and Unity conference. It is meant to give a veneer of credibility to rightwing Islamists, and also dupe a whole bunch of clueless Leftards who see no evil in totalitarian and political Islam. It is a trojan horse – but why so pedantic?